2006 Dunk Contest a Great One

The 2006 NBA dunk contest was a breath of fresh air. With dunk contests that hadn't been very interesting the last couple of years, the 2006 contestants really put on a show.

The eventual winner, Gerald Green of the Boston Celtics showed off just how justified the buzz about this player is. Coming straight out of high school to the NBA, Green has taken a couple years to start coming into his own. He is just starting to contribute for the Celtics. Gerald put on quite a show in the dunk contest and impressed a star studded judges table featuring Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins, Kobe Bryant, and Vince Carter. Green's throw back dunk, re-creating Dee Browns classic arm over the eyes dunk sealed the title. Just before the dunk he removed his warm up to reveal a Dee Brown jersey and put on brand new Reebok Pumps, just like the ones that Brown wore in the 1991 contest.

Other than Green's dunks, there were a few other memorable moments also. I think that Dwight Howard got treated very unfairly by the judges. For example, in one of his dunks, he had a sticker with his face on it in his hand, went up, stuck the sticker about 6 inches below the top of the backboard with his left hand and then finished the dunk with his right hand. He was not properly rewarded with a good score and was eliminated from the round. Michael Jordan and Julius Erving, the fathers of the dunk contest, both gave Howard an 8 for a dunk that I believe could have gone for at least a 9.

Nate Robinson of the Knicks also put on a pretty entertaining show with a couple good dunks. For one of the better ones, Robinson threw a lob to himself and it seemed like he was flying. For a guy listed at 5' 9", he is incredibly athletic. Most would even say that he is well below his listed height. Robinson also completed another great dunk by taking the ball out of teammate David Lee's hand and doing a nice 360 slam. Though he took over the 2 minute time limit to complete his dunk in the final round, he still put out an impressive showing.

Tyrus Thomas of the Chicago Bulls was certainly the least entertaining. He had quite a bit of hype behind him because of his high flying act in college playing for LSU. He didn't put on a show at all in this contest; hopefully we can see something good out of him in a future contest. He has potential.

Overall, the 2006 NBA dunk contest was very entertaining and was well worth watching. I wasn't expecting much going in because of the lack of creativity in recent years, but ended up being pleasantly surprised. The future of the dunk contest certainly looks bright.